In my last post, I mentioned that the weather here has been absolutely frigid. Well, a couple days have passed and in true crazy weather fashion, our temperatures are now into the 60s. I should mention that that is very warm for this time of year, as our last frost date is usually at the end of April and into May. Nevertheless, let’s take a quick look at the progress and loss in the unheated hoophouse and in the garden. Before getting into the unheated hoophouse, let’s look around outside. First, the drumstick allium bulbs have started to grow. I know that these are the drumstick alliums because of their…

Over the past week or so, we’ve been getting absolutely blasted with cold weather and freezing temperatures. Up until now, our winter weather had been relatively mild; something which is very common here in my zone 6b/7 garden. That all changed about two weeks ago, however, when the snow began to fall and the nightly lows starting dipping into the single digits. Let’s take a closer look at our winter flowers. With about eight inches of snow headed in my direction, I started the process of “locking down” the hoophouse, covering the plants with row covers, and hoping that everything would survive. Of course, it couldn’t just snow – we…

If you follow along on my YouTube channel, you already know that I make an intentional effort to show every step of my seed starting process. This means that I intend to show most, if not all, of this year’s winter sowing into the unheated low tunnel. Since I obviously can’t post 30 videos in one day, I publish them one at a time. This sometimes can cause a problem with timing, as some plants can be planted a lot sooner than the date that the video is listed. In this post, I’ll be making an extensive list of the plants that I’ll be winter sowing this year – and…

A few seasons ago, a brief introduction to the winter sowing method completely changed the way I garden. Without the need for grow lights or fancy seed starting setups, it is truly a way for those of us with tiny garden budgets to grow something that is absolutely amazing. The options when using the winter sowing method are limitless – you can start both vegetable and flower seeds with ease. This method is especially useful when attempting to grow some perennial flowers and herbs from seed (which may be difficult to germinate). Seeds are naturally stratified when needed, there’s no need to fuss about hardening off the seedlings before transplant…

Since my last post, my winter sowing has moved into full swing. This time of year, the process of starting all my flower seeds is such an exciting one. On one hand, I’m super eager to watch things start to grow. On the other, I’m always worried that absolutely nothing will grow and that things will be a complete failure. I guess that’s just my personality – either everything is great or everything is awful. Lol. Today, I’m winter sowing some plants that I absolutely know will be successful. First to sow is bachelor’s buttons. I was able to find a packet of tall red bachelor’s buttons for just .99…

It’s that time again – time to start thinking about winter sowing! Hooray! I’m so excited! In the past, I’ve only winter sowed using milk jugs and other containers. Last year, I ended up with well over 200 bottles sitting in the backyard – it was a complete mess! This year, I’ve decided to try something a little different. Instead of milk jugs, I’ll be using seed starting trays and a small low tunnel covered in plastic. Even though I’ve never seen anyone do this before, my gardening instinct tells me that this method will also be successful. Sometime next week, I hope to post about my seed starting set…

Luckily, I was finally able to finish planting the hardy annual cut flower seedlings into the hoophouse. Though most of these flowers are annuals, I did include some biennial flowers under cover, as well. Here’s hoping for a beautiful spring and summer.

CHECK OUT OUR SOAP SUBSCRIPTION AND 50% OFF SALE! CLICK HERE! I’ve had a long and troubled relationship with snapdragons. Snapdragons have always been one of those flowers that just wouldn’t grow the way I wanted. I’ve seen those “real” flower farms, with rows and rows of tall snapdragons – I wanted that! Over the last four or five seasons, I had tried virtually everything I could think of to grow the best snapdragons possible. I tried sowing snapdragon seeds indoors. While this method does work for many people – especially those with green thumbs – it doesn’t work for me. I don’t own grow lights, and without them, the…

CHECK OUT OUR SOAP SUBSCRIPTION AND 50% OFF SALE! CLICK HERE! I’ll be the first to admit that love-in-a-mist has never been one of my “must have” flowers. Having never grown it before, I didn’t really know what to expect the first time I grew it. I mean, I knew that it was weird and kind of funky looking, but many times my impression of flowers will completely change after I grow them. The same was also true for nigella. Aside from the weird flower and seed pod shape, love in a mist has this cool characteristic about them that makes water droplets gather on the plant after it rains…